The Journal of John
by Jeremi963
Summary: Melvin Johnson (John) has been Franz Hopper's personal assistant for some time, and as a new procedure, is instructed to keep a journal on his work. This is the result.
1. Chapter 1

**Day 1**

Franz finds it necessary to keep a journal of my thoughts and feelings while working on this particular assignment. As his personal assistant, I have to abide by his rules regardless of my own "non-professional" opinions. I respect him and all, but in all honesty, I do not see the point in this journal.

My name is Marvin Johnson, but I strictly go by John. My parents didn't seem to care how unhappy I was with my name as a child, but that isn't the point here, and I don't want to get off topic.

To anyone who is reading this, I have no idea what will happen once we finish working on the project. As of right now, government officials have no idea where we are, only that we have created something to combat them with. Once we go global with this project, there may be no way out for any of us.

And when I say any of us, I mean all of Franz's team. I'm only his assistant. There are at least a dozen more of us. We were able to set up shop in an abandoned Citrogën plant. Luckily for us, they had gone under as a business a few years ago. One man's failure is another man's success I suppose.

I really should get to talking about our big project and why we even need it. I hate to disclose such valuable information, but I have been instructed to by Franz, himself. If it were up to me, I wouldn't have any of this disclosed whatsoever. But, he's the boss.

Our project XANA had been a huge success. Franz had acted as though he had just had another child. He had only one daughter that I knew of, and he almost never even gave her the time of day. I suspect he will now, though, with the hiring of much more help.

Back to what I was saying, XANA was a success. Our only problem being, he's not strong enough yet. Franz insists that XANA has enough personality and motive to be almost realistic. I say otherwise. A computer is always a computer. A program is always a program. And that is exactly what his new "son" is. A program.

XANA was created to combat the government project, "Project Carthage." Project Carthage was put into play because of France's past losses and near uselessness in previous wars. It was the ultimate spying system, in which all things connected via internet or sattelite could be hacked into and recorded or listened to. Franz Hopper had never considered being any kind of anarchist until Project Carthage was announced. This new change had infuriated Franz, and he had created XANA in order to "fix" the problem.

And yet, still, I have not even touched base on our new project. I hate to disclose our backup plan, no matter the fact that no one may ever even read this journal. It may be destroyed along with this very factory for all that I know. But yet again I say, Franz has instructed me to begin documenting, and I desperately need this job.

Our project is Project Lyoko. The name could use some work, but that is in fact, our backup plan. I have no details on what exactly what Lyoko is, because I have not yet been allowed into the production of it yet. I suspect I will be allowed in soon.

As soon as I have more details, I will disclose them. For now, the work day is done, so I will be signing off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Day 2**

Yesterday being my first time writing an entry in this beat up, leather piece of scrap, Franz checked my work. He was dissapointed that I didn't describe myself at all in my first segment so I guess I will take the time to do that now.

You already know my name is Melvin Johnson, but I prefer John. Working for Mr. Hopper was my first job outside of high school. The only reason he even considered hiring me was my ability with computers and software.

I come from a broken home, one from which there was no love whatsoever shown from or to anyone. My father was in the military and was never there and my mother was an alcoholic, so naturally I took care of myself growing up. I found solitary in my computer work. I worked on coding, decoding, hacking, and occasionally played games in between. The virtual world had fascinated me for as long as I could remember. Now that I think about it, it has fascinated Franz as well...

At any rate, I have been working for Franz for eleven months and three days now, all of which was debugging and working on his precious XANA project. Every now and again I would ask what he would do when he was found out, all of which he would turn to me and say "All in due time, my dear Melvin, all in due time."

My duty today was to supervise the construction workers that were building a connection between the factory and his house using the sewers. This meant I would basically have a boring day with no excitement at all, so I volunteered to babysit his daughter while I supervised. Franz thought it was a great idea.

A few minutes in, and I was asking myself why I even bothered asking to babysit this kid. I had never seen his daughter (I think her name was Ileeta, or Aelita, or something like that) First of all, she had bright pink hair. It looked almost like her father had dropped a paint bucket on her head. As if that wasn't enough, she was asking questions every few seconds. She was curious about everything. Everything about her screamed annoying, but I took every second of it because I had volunteered to do it. Luckily, it was a short day at work for Franz.

Every waking second my mind was hammering question after question about the big project. The one project that was supposed to be Franz's greatest work. The only project that I knew nothing about. If he does not tell me soon, I fear I will lose all confidence in working for him.

**Day 3**

I am convinced that Franz is insane.

He has disclosed his secret project. The one only he could work on. It was a virtual world he had named after the project, Lyoko. Franz claims that once he activates it and it goes online, he will be able to hide there along with everyone who works there. This was his escape plan. This was what he had been working on. This would even be somewhat okay, but he threw a curveball at us that we never expected.

He claimed to have been working on it for six years.

Again, this was not too weird, except that he had just started a week ago. Everyone knew he hasn't worked six years of physical time on it, so naturally someone asked about it.

He had gone back in time, the same day, working on Lyoko for six years.

Six years.

And he still wasn't done.

Naturally, more than half of his team left him as soon as he had said this. Truly, he was going through a nervous breakdown. He had said earlier after everyone else had gone that he needed to speak to me. I will return when the meeting is over.

**Day 3 (continued)**

This is almost more than I can bear. Franz has just asked me to help him work on his insane project. In a week, he says he was able to create a device he calls a scanner, and had used XANA to help him create the "Return To Past" feature he had claimed to used repeatedly. He also says that XANA was growing stronger with each return to the past. My only argument was I was working on him, making him stronger. Franz only laughed, saying, "No, son. He was studying you. He was fixing you."

Another thing, he had decided he wasted me as the forerunner for his test runs when his Lyoko project was complete. I hate to work for such a lunatic, but I have no other choice. I have no more job options.

I will accept his offer first thing tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Day 4**

I can't believe what I saw today. Everyone had thought that Franz was merely a lunatic chasing the white rabbit into Wonderland. He had actually created the entire Lyoko world with only him and XANA. This was unbelievable.

"Ah, Melvin," Franz had said as I walked into the basement of the factory. He held his arms out as if to show off his invention.

"Actually, it's John, sir," I corrected for, perhaps, the millionth time. "What is this?"

"This, my dear boy, is the control room, and that is my ol' reliable," he pointed to his computer that had been modified to the max. "But I have to show you how I was able to accomplish so much in so little time."

That was literally the entire conversation. I had just stood there with my mouth agape. I thought my boss had gone _insane_. I had no idea that he had been actually working on it. Yet something didn't make sense. If he had been working for six years and just returning to the past, then how was he able to make any progress? He explained that as well. Apparently, he was able to do twice the work as the day before, just building off of what he had done the day before. In short, he could recite the entire Lyoko coding system he had done so far without missing a beat.

I was still in awe as he showed me his scanner. This had also helped him remember what he had done previously. Apparently, anything that has been scanned remembers whatever happened before the return to the past. Franz had lived an extra six years than anyone else in the world just because of this device. Then he asked me to do something that I had not expected.

"Get in the scanner, John."

Not only was it a rare time that he had referred to me as my preferred name, but it was the first time he had told me to do something in a serious voice. Something about the scanner was erie. It was nothing more than a giant tube that slid shut when activated, but it had a certain glow to it. It was almost as if it was beconing me. Taunting me.

"_Please_ get in the scanner, John," Franz insisted. "I've scanned myself. It's not bad at all."

I obliged. The cold metal bit my hand as I grabbed the sides for support to step up into the scanner. I turned to see Franz going back up the old elevator (I can't believe that old hunk of junk still works) into the control room. The door slid shut with a clank. A wind inside the tube started to pick up, as if I was standing on a fan, and the lights in the floor shone so bright I had to shut my eyes. When I opened my eyes, I almost fainted. I was no longer in the scanner. I was no longer anywhere.

I was NOWHERE.

Of course, there was floor. But other than that, there was white everywhere. It was as if I was standing inside a white prison box. A voice boomed from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. I had deducted that this voice belonged to Franz.

"Oh, wow!" Franz mused. "I had just been scanned, I forgot I had made a construct for the base of Lyoko! You look good, John."

I looked down. My clothes had been changed to rags. And I had a tail.

A tail.

A TAIL.

"FRANZ!" I screamed. "WHY DO I LOOK LIKE A MONKEY?!"

"Calm down," Franz had said. "Your subconscious creates an avatar for you inside Lyoko. I picked out your clothing because I didn't know who I would bring in first, so I just made rags. I'm surprised you came out in color, actually. Try to walk."

Believe it or not, I could feel every muscle moving when I took a step. I was walking, but I wasn't. It was reality, but it wasn't. "You're crazy, Franz," I muttered to the blank sky. "I can't believe you created this."

"I can't believe this is working like this," Franz muttered back. "By the way, would you like to know how all this works?"

I shook my head, believing he could see me. "Not really. I'm guessing you had a lot of time on your hands."

He smirked. "Indeed I did. Now try running."

I began to run. Amazingly, I had not grown tired after running a great distance. I was not sweating, and I was not short of breath. I was becoming more at home in this blank wasteland, because I could act just like I was in reality. However, I noticed something and stopped running. I hadn't felt any kind of wind when I was running. I reported this to Franz.

"I see," Franz replied in his low-I-understand-that-I-messed-up-somewhere-voice. "But you can still run, correct?"

"Well, yeah," I said with a surprised tone. "Could you not see me?"

"I can't see every action, John," Franz said back. "I will have to go to a bird's eye view type view with statistics when your avatar is selected. No matter. I believe you've had enough for today. Devirtualizing."

I had been close to death once. As a young teen, I was with some friends from school and was jumping off a fifty foot bridge into a river. It was illegal, but it was fun. About the third or fourth time up, the police had shown up and had told us to leave. I, being a disrespectful child, laughed at the cop and done a flip off the bridge to show off. That was a mistake.

I nearly drowned because of a broken leg. My lungs were filling with water and I couldn't swim because of my leg. Luckily, one of my friends were able to dive after me and get me to shore before I drowned. I was rushed to the hospital where I awoke to pain that was intense, but not as intense as when I was in the water.

The "devirtualization" felt worse that that day.

I stumbled out of the scanner and onto the floor, pain starting to leave my body. I knew what had happened. My avatar had just been destroyed, but the pain receptors were able to feel that. I pushed myself up off the floor in time to see Franz run up to me.

"John!" He shouted. "John! Are you okay?"

I groaned and nodded. "I died, Franz. That's what it felt like. It was like dying from one life to go to another." Franz looked puzzled.

"I will work on that and try to deminish it," He said helping me up. "I can't take it completely out. Believe it or not, that isn't even the full effect."

I can't imagine what the full effect would be like. I still hurt, tonight, from that scan this afternoon. I am now no longer Franz Hopper's assistant. Now, I am his partner. His sidekick. His lab rat.

I prefer to not dwell on such topics. John, signing off for the day.


	4. Chapter 4

**Day 5**

This morning I was awakened early by Franz and a team of 4 atheletic-looking men. Each had bicepts that looked like they belonged on that of a heavy lifter and every one of them was bald, probably shaved heads. Franz said he had hired them as test subjects as well. Going down the line, George Bellman, Zachary Phillis, Peter Tracy, Carl Blake, and Matthew Parkins were their names. Standing in the doorway to my room was Franz's fellow assistant, Tyrone. I never knew his last name, because he was always just called Tyrone.

From what I know, George Bellman was a self-trained body builder who spent his entire time outside of work in the gym. His entire family had been either military or imprisoned, and he had been tired of being called a wimp. He only accepted Franz's offer because he was starting to get laid off at his job. Zachary Phillis was a health nut. All he cared about what his own well being. Becoming fit also made him a narcissist, so he was always talking about how amazing he was. Peter Tracy had a rough childhood, and had been shipped from America to live with his distant aunt and uncle who, int turn, treated him like dirt. He claims to specialize in street fighting and working out like "a real man." Carl Blake was a college dropout who had taken into martial arts training. He doesn't have a place to live and goes from place to place fighting to live every day. Matthew Parkins was the youngest looking of all of them, and he didn't talk much, so we had no idea of his story. And Tyrone, well, Tyrone was Franz's first assistant and he had helped him create the supercomputer in the control room. He had decided he would just stay out of a lot of the field work.

If that's what you could call it. It was really just guys running around a room. It was more structured today, though, because XANA had been working all night coding and creating.

I rolled out of my lumpy mattress and walked accross my insignificantly sized room. Franz had provided me boarding in his house, the "hermitage." It wasn't much, but it was a place to sleep.

Franz said we needed to start using the sewers to go to and from the factory from now on, because of the constant risk of someone watching us. I saw no point in this, but I did not criticize him for it. If I had something as big as he had to hide, I would be extra careful with it too.

When we walked out of the elevator into the scanner room, we were surprised to see another scanner sitting in the room. Franz said Tyone and XANA had built the scanner OVERNIGHT. Either Tyrone was amazing, or XANA had grown even stronger. I, personally, believed the second one.

Each one of us was virtualized, one by one. The familiar welcoming of the scanner was once again experienced as I was virtualized after the other five had already gone in.

"We're going to try something a little different today," Franz voice said from nowhere and everywhere. "I want to see how the attack function works and what exactly it does. So you all will be fighting each other. Good luck!"

I looked around, only to see that the other five guys had not changed at all. They looked exactly the same. Their ideal avatar was themselves. And I was a monkey.

"Franz," I said out loud. "How are we to go to combat with no weapons?"

"Oh, yes!" Franz exclaimed. "I have picked you all out weapons specific to your abilities. Just let me send them in..."

Moments later, a pole axe virtualized in my hands. I looked around, only to see George with a broadsword, Zachary with a scimitar, Peter with a javelin, Carl with nunchucks that had bladed tips, and Matthew seemed to have some kind of spikes he was balancing on the tips of his fingers. I did the only logical thing I knew to do.

I ran.

I had no idea where I was running to, because it was just a white area. Granted, it was very laid out with some form of landscape, but it was still white ground and white sky with no kind of other sprites around. I could tell XANA was working on creating a realistic ground, though, because there was texture on the ground. I could only tell this because of the shadows being cast.

I heard the others fighting amongst themselves behind me. I turned my head, only to see that they were so far away I could barely hear them. I had run that far in that short amount of time. I watched as each of them sliced, hacked, and slashed at each other trying to come out on top. I watched and heard each of them try to destroy the other like animals locked in combat. It sickened me. Franz had brought them here just to watch them fight. Enraged, I charged them with my pole axe ready to strike.

Instantly, Matthew reacted by throwing a spike at me whilst dodging Zachary's scimitar. I deflected the ridiculous spike and hacked at his head. He exploaded into digital code with a scream and disappeared. I wasted no time turning and hacking George and Carl, who were stunned by what had happened to Matthew, in what I though was half, but as soon as my axe hit them the same thing that happened to Matthew happened to them. They both exploaded into digital code and disappeared. Zachary and Peter were left. They decided that I needed to go and teamed up against me. Peter threw his javelin at me while Zachary charged me with his scimitar spinning, trying to scare me. I dropped my pole axe, managed to catch Peter's javelin mid-air to spin around and stab Zachary in the torso. As he disappeared, I grabbed his falling scimitar and threw it at Peter, sending him to who knows where as well.

I stood there, shaking, unknowing of what I had just done. I still shake thinking about what I did or how I did it. Franz's voice congratulated me, but I didn't care at the moment.

"Where did they go, Franz?" I muttered out loud. "What happened to them?"

"Oh, John, my dear boy," Franz replied happily. "They are all here, safe and sound. Well, not all of them. George and Zachary are still here. The other three decided that this was all crazy and left."

"They're right, Franz," I mused to him. "This is insane. Why did you do this?"

"I wanted to see what people were capable of inside of Lyoko. And you did not disappoint, my boy."

I shook my head in disbelief. It was a test. And none of it was real.

I don't know how much more of the insanity I can take. If Franz does not show some kind of sanity soon, I fear I will have to find employment somewhere else.

John out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Day 6**

I have rewritten each of these days over so many times. With each return to the past, my writing does not stay. I have complained to Franz, and he said I can type my journals up from now on. The leather-bound notebook will only contain the days up until now.

On to more important things. They're all dead. Everybody.

All five of the guys Franz hired are dead. Even the ones that left us. And all the scientists that left too. For all we know, our hideout could be compromised. Franz's demeanor remains unchanged, because he knows we can just return to the past. I, on the other hand, would hate to live in the same day over and over.

We now have a new member, but only one. His name is Charles Lawrence, but everyone just calls him Charley. Regardless, his participation cannot bring back the dead. We tried to return to the past. Apparently it cannot revive corpses. Franz asked XANA about the deaths and if there had been any government related action. The program never seemed to answer. I may never understand the connection between Franz Hopper and his program.

Charley is here for the same reasons I am. For the pay and the love of computers. He seems to not care that Franz, Tyrone, and I are likely wanted fugitives and could be hunted down. It kind of makes me suspicious, but not to the point that I can't do my job.

XANA has been building on Lyoko like crazy. I'm beginning to believe that Franz actually made him for that project rather than to revolt. I just don't know at this point.

All I do know is his daughter Aelita is not as bad as I had originally thought. As a matter of fact, she is beginning to grow on me. I just hope that Franz doesn't get any ideas like sending her to Lyoko. I doubt he will because she is his own daughter, but now I can't be so sure. He's baffling even me.

Today's assignment was simple: to check out the progress XANA had completed. Still with only two scanners, Franz virtualized us both at the same time. The beckoning of the scanner is starting to become more of a hypnotizing than a welcoming. I fear that I may have a forming mental disorder and this is only making it worse. As we virtualize, I no longer virtualize on the ground, but above air. I land with ease, but Charley lands on his butt. I laugh and help him up. But I stop laughing when I see the ground.

XANA had created a world. He had created a literal world with a ground, a sky, clouds, and I even saw creatures. I looked around to see a desert landscape, with an edge that seemed to slope off into nothing. I stood in awe, and I could hear Franz chuckle.

"Do you like what he's done with the place, boys?" He smirked. I looked over at Charley. He, too, was in awe. His avatar looked mostly like him, but he had a kind of stretchy material with armor covering parts of his body. His weapon was a sawblade sword, which looked amazing, but we didn't seem to have a use for it.

"Hey, wanna race?" I challenged. I nudged him and pointed out to a big rock in the middle of the landscape. He smiled and nodded. "One, Two and - hey!" I yelled as he started off. I take off as fast as I can, passing him up instantly and beating him to the rock. He stops in mid run and stares at me.

"How did you do that?" He asks in disbelief. "I could have swore I was going to beat you."

I shrug. "I can do that in here. I guess you get heightened abilities."

"What else can you do?" He asks. "Try jumping."

I jump, only to see that I have jumped at least ten feet in the air. "Wow!" I shout down. "I wasn't even trying!" I land with an astonished look on my face. "This is weird."

"What are you talking about? This is amazing!" Charley said, obviously amused by the new world. "It's just like a video game! Ha ha!" He began to run around, hitting random things with his sword like a child would do. He hit a small creature that was about knee height, that had small metallic legs and spikes all over its body. When he hit it, the body exploded and disappeared. A look of amazement washed his face. A different look flooded my face. Mine was fear. When he hit that creature, the other creatures stopped and looked at us.

"Charley," I said quietly. "They're watching us. Look." He looked up. Each of the creatures were now locked onto us like they were going to attack. "You shouldn't have done that..."

"I was lost in the moment," Charley pleaded. "I couldn't help it. What do we do now?"

"Just back away slowly," I ushered. "Maybe they will leave us be. Franz, do you have anything?"

"No, I'm afraid I don't," We heard him say. "These creatures were created by XANA, so I have no idea what their motives or even their purpose is. Whatever happens, don't fall off the edge. I don't like how that looks."

We started to back away when we saw one of the smaller creatures charge up what looked like was its eye, and shot a laser directly at us. Shocked, neither of us saw this blast coming, and I was hit directly in the chest.

You know the heartburn feeling you get when you eat something spicy? That's what that felt like, but amplified. I stumbled back, unable to picture what just happened. Every other creature began charging and preparing to shoot. "Run!" I yell as lasers chase after us. Hoards of creatures chase and shoot at us repeatedly, shots both missing (mostly missing) and hitting us. Finally, I looked back to see Charley get shot in the back of the head and be instantly devirtualized. I stopped and decided to await to be devirtualized as well.

We both fell out of the scanners, more exhausted than hurt this time. We looked up to see Franz with a worried look on his face. "We may have a problem, boys."

Franz refuses to tell me what's wrong. The questions are pounding my brain once again, but I must get some sleep. I am extremely exhausted after the day's journey.

John out.


	6. Chapter 6

**Day 7**

It's been one week since Franz announced the project that would ultimately be the escape clause in his XANA mission. I believe it has, anyway. I can't keep track of the days anymore. With each return to the past, the days run together and I can't keep track. Whatever the day, I have almost perfected my Lyoko abilities and I now know my limits. I will need to know them now.

Franz told me what was worrying him yesterday. XANA is starting to show human characteristics. The bad part is, it's showing Franz's characteristics, meaning it is getting harder to keep it under control. Franz has limited XANA to the supercomputer, but I don't believe it will be enough to keep him back.

I'm referring to XANA as a him now. I can't believe I am that convinced he's that close to human.

Regardless, my new project is creating a program to control XANA. Franz does not yet know of this project, and I see no point in telling him. He would just have me abandon my new project and accuse me of not trusting his work. I mean, I don't trust his work, but I can't let him know that. I have to come up with a name. For now, I will just call it my project.

XANA has created more of Lyoko for Franz. Except now, there is another section of it that is linked to the first via a tower. Each of the towers are wired together and, apparently, some are traversable. I will have to trace each of these to know the exact exit. Franz says I need to explore everywhere with Charley and map out the area.

Today's mission was just that. Explore Lyoko. It seemed like an easy enough mission. We just had no idea of how large Lyoko actually was. I still have no idea how large it is, all I know is XANA has done some major work on it.

The scanner still becons me. It's like a recovering alcoholic walking past a bar. Every time he passes it, it's almost as if the bar is calling his name. That's what the scanner is doing to me. I can't imagine leaving the group or even trying to forget Lyoko. My very being longs to be in Lyoko. My dreams are of Lyoko.

As we are scanned and virtualized, we drop into a new area. Instead of being surrounded by sand and desert, we were surrounded by ice. It looked as if XANA had used the desert sector (we have voted to use this term) as a template for this sector in particular.

"Franz, are you ever going to just talk?" I asked, clearly annoyed. "I always have to ask for your input. I'd enjoy a heads up or anything, you know."

"Sorry, John," Franz apologized. "I've been working on the interface, trying to get it to be more vicarious so I can witness everything, but I can't seem to get it right. Until I get it the way I want it, you two are mostly on your own."

"I don't mind at all," Charley laughed. "I like trying out video games before reading the manual."

"Whatever," I replied. "I'd just enjoy a little bit of help from the one who this is all about is all."

We began walking, and I quickly shrugged off the frustration caused by Franz. Both Charley and I stayed amazed at the landscape. In theory, the ice sector wouldn't have been difficult to create after the desert sector. All one would have to do is rescale certain points and change the color and some effects, and walah. The only difference is the "digital sea" as Franz calls it, looks like water and the strips of land aren't as wide in places. Franz decided he wants one of us to jump into the digital sea, but he hasn't decided when he wants us to yet. I think he's crazy, but that's just me and I've thought that all along.

"Go inside one of those towers," Franz said to us. "John, go."

"Shut up," I said back. "I'm going into this tower." I slowly walked towards the awkward looking tower. "How do you get in?" I reached forward and touch it, and my hand went through the wall of it. I pulled my hand back out quickly, not sure what to do. Charley made an ushering movement with his hand, as if to say 'Go on.' I gathered up the courage and walked into the tower.

There was a new circular room on the inside, with a slim bridge leading from the entrance to a circular platform. The middle resembled a target. I looked down off the edge into the nothingness. The walls looked like blue panels from a computer. Knowing nothing else to do, I slowly walked to the center of the platform, the circles of the target lighting up as I touch them. For some unknown reason, inside this place I felt peace, and the feeling of peace grew greater as I got closer to the center. I felt so relaxed in the center, that I began to float up onto a different platform. This platform had a design on it that looked slightly like a target, but I remembered this one. This was XANA's program symbol. When I landed on the platform, the symbol lit up completely. Once I reached the center of this platform, a screen appeared in front of me. Not knowing what to do, I placed my right hand on the screen.

It read out "JOHN" and went to a different screen. From there, it said "CODE".

"Franz?" I asked out loud. "What do I do?"

"I'm not sure. Just type Lyoko," I heard Franz say, his voice actually louder.

Of course, when I did, nothing happened. Charley said that an aura around the tower formed and it turned blue, but other than that, we saw no change.

"Okay, boys," Franz yawned. "I think we're done here. Devirtualizing."

The devirtualization process no longer felt like death, but instead felt like it physically drained me. That didn't matter. I no longer felt like I had died.

Today's events were less than entertaining, but fascinating nonetheless. I must eat, then sleep. I will need my strength for tomorrow.

John out.


	7. Chapter 7

**Day**

I don't know how many days it has been. It feels like a year. It very well could be. I don't even know what happened.

That's a lie. I do know what happened. I was virtualized into the "Virtual sea" as Franz calls it. It's just hard to explain. I guess I could go back to the last real day I remember.

Franz and Charley woke me up.

"You're going to go to the digital sea today," Franz told me. I had suddenly become much more interested. I went down to the scanner room and was virtualized, as usual. I appeared above the digital sea. That's the last thing I remember.

Franz says that I have only been in there for a week, but the looks on Charley's face say otherwise.

That morning I remember specifically. I had not slept, but had been in Lyoko since the previous day. I couldn't stay away from the virtual splendor that was Lyoko, despite the numerous beasts that saw me as nothing more than an enemy. This was my home now. I loved the heightened abilities, the leaping from tree to tree in the now created forest sector. I loved the rolling mountains and the dusty deserts. I even loved the monsters. They let me know that this wasn't just a place of security. This was my reality. And for a while, it WAS my reality.

I only knew it was morning because Charley had come in to bring me back out. He was worried about me and wanted me to come out of Lyoko. I didn't know why. I didn't feel tired or sick or even hungry. This was my paradise with a touch of danger.

"What do you want, Charley?" I asked, obviously annoyed. "If you're trying to get me to come out, there's no need. I'm not coming out." A look of concern and worry washed over his face.

"You're becoming attached, John," He said. "None of this is real. This isn't reality. This is Lyoko, not life. You cannot live here."

I glared at Charley. "Watch me."

"I can't leave here without you," Charley replied. "I promised Franz I would bring you back. You have to come."

"Are you going to make me?" I challenged. I brandished my pole axe and stared him down. "I will not leave here, Charley. You'll have to fight me to get me out. And we both know who is better." Charley readied his sawblade.

"Don't make me fight you, John," Charley said slowly. "I don't want to fight."

"I know," I said with a swing. He parried my strike and kicked me back, preparing for another strike. I quickly dodged and punched him in the face, just for spite.

This did the trick. He attacked with an onslaught of swings and hacks. I dodged each easily, showing no effort so I could anger him more. Slash to my right, head strike, legs, right side, right side, head, left, stab, slash, nothing hit me. I smirked.

"What's wrong Charley boy?" I asked defiantly. "Can't hit me?"

He shouted in anger and attacked faster, and harder. Yet still I dodged every swing. I laughed, watching him struggle. It felt too good to know he was no match for me. I almost felt pity for him. But yet I laughed. Yet I taunted. I continued to watch him desperately try to hit me.

"Enough," I finally said after maybe a thousand swings. I retrieved my pole axe from the place on my back I had found could hold it. "I'm done with these games. Back to the real world with you." I heaved my axe at Charley's head, which was surprisingly blocked. Locked in our new position, blades not moving. We locked eyes and grunted. He was stronger here, and I knew it. I wouldn't be able to hold forever.

"I really didn't want to do this to you, John," Charley admitted. "But you must know what this place is. You have to see the reality behind the virtuality." I noticed I was standing on the edge of the land, the digital sea just behind me. "I'm sorry."

With that, he kicked me off into the digital sea. Franz did not devirtualize me, Charley did not attack me, and XANA's creations merely watched us battle and watched me fall.

I never hit anything. I saw my digital code just like when I was devirtualized before, but this time was different. I didn't feel like I was being devirtualized. I felt like I was becoming empty. I felt like I was losing every bit of existence that was me. According to Franz, I didn't really exist starting at that moment.

It was cold. All I saw around me was void, as if I had died and was in some kind of limbo. There was nothing. No land. No sky. No creatures. Nothing. I was alone. If I was anything, I was alone. That was not Lyoko. That couldn't be Lyoko. That wasn't bliss. That was a nightmare. A never ending nightmare.

Well it did end. Eventually. I swear I was in there for a year or more. There was no sense of time, so I had no idea. All I knew was I was alone, for what I thought was forever.

And all I know now is I am exhausted.

John out.


	8. Chapter 8

**[Video Diary]**

I'm done with the stupid journal. That leatherbound notebook symbolizes my life before Lyoko. Even typing it up seems mediocre now. I prefer this. It's much easier.

It has been days since an entry. I have been busy working on my project that I started before I was lost to the digital sea. He is so humanlike I decided to call him by a human name, ALEX. I can't believe how personal I'm beginning to become with programs and such...

His original purpose was to control XANA, Franz's project. However, I am seeing an even better purpose now, a bodyguard. This will fit him well, as he is virtually undefeatable. I shall upload him to Lyoko sometime tomorrow.

My day has not yet begun. This is merely morning, while everyone is asleep. And by everyone I mean Charley and Franz. I have no idea where Aelita is. I'll have to find her this morning to keep Franz from overreacting. He seems to have a lot on his mind.

Nevertheless, I no longer trust Franz whatsoever. Charley informed me how long I was actually in the virtual sea. I was trapped for a year, without Franz even so much as worrying about my wellbeing. Granted, I was in no form of danger, but the coldheartedness he showed towards my "eternal" virtualization scares me. I must find a way to put him "out of commission" before he truly harms or kills me or Charley. I don't plan to kill him. Just keep him from harming anyone. Somehow...

In any case, XANA is starting to show strings of "corruption" as Franz says. He blames me for the corruption in XANA. It does not bother me, though, because I am far too busy with my own research.

Lyoko is calling my name. I must leave now.

John out.

**[Re-entry, video diary day 1]**

Such an uneventful day. Even the search for Aelita and the trip to Lyoko seemed to be dull. Aelita was just in the factory. She apparently is having trouble sleeping. This is none of my business, so I will disregard her for now. The trip to Lyoko was so dull I nearly fell asleep standing up. All the sectors seem to be the same. A few hills, trees, and rocks is all I see anymore.

Every monster almost seems welcoming, even the lasers they shoot seem to say "Hello" as they zoom by. I don't know what's wrong with me, but it seems as though Lyoko is my home now. I feel like such a stranger here...

John out.


End file.
